Animal Hall of Fame recognizes pet heroes from across Canada

Tori Floyd

Good NewsMay 8, 2012

They may appear to be your average dogs and cat, but these family pets and police dogs are lifesavers in the eyes of their owners.

Four new animals were inducted into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame on May 7, receiving medals for the work that saved the lives of their owners and members of the community. Here are their stories that got them there, as shared by Canada Newswire:

Monty (Ginger tabby from Camrose, Alberta)

Monty's owner, Patricia Peters is a diabetic, and while sleeping one night, her blood sugar dropped to dangerously low levels. Monty seemed to sense something was wrong, and began nibbling on his owner's fingers — specifically, the fingers where she usually tests her blood sugar. When she woke up to send Monty away, Peters realized she was incredibly dizzy, and got up to test her levels. Monty ran ahead, and Peters found him sitting beside her testing kit in the kitchen. Without Monty's persistence, Peters would have fallen into a diabetic coma or had a diabetic seizure.

Bree (Dachshund from Blissfield, New Brunswick)

The two-year-old pup woke her owner Michele Gilks suddenly one night, frantically digging beside her and pushing her snout into Gilks' mouth. When Gilks did wake up, she says she felt as if she was drowning and started gasping for air. Her husband also woke up to Bree's antics, and promptly called an ambulance, where Gilks was diagnosed with sleep apnea. Bree's repeated attempts in the past to wake Gilks in the middle of the night suddenly made sense; the dog acted up any time Gilks stopped breathing.

Nanook(Siberian Husky cross from St. Catharines, Ontario)

Nanook proved again how good animals can be at sensing when something is wrong with their owners. Coleen and Gord Kilby were at home asleep in their beds last May, when Nanook began howling, barking and licking her owners' faces, none of which was like the dog. When Coleen woke up to see what was wrong with Nanook, however, she realized she was having a heart attack. Hours later at the hospital, Coleen had three stents put in her heart, proving just how life-saving Nanook's actions were.

Titan (Oakville, Ontario)

Crowned Service Dog of the Year, police dog Titan and his partner Constable Tara McLorn were sent to find a woman lost in the woods during a storm after she had tried to overdose on medication. While her last cell phone call to 911 helped to narrow down where she was, Titan was ultimately the one to track the woman down in the dark woods, high winds and torrential rain. The woman was found, taken to the hospital, and ultimately saved.